Friday, July 17

Since there was no water aerobics this morning, we slept late, and then I did a treadmill session and resistance exercises. Once I was ready for the day, Hubbie and I spruced the house for a scheduled pest control treatment.

Mid-morning, Mother and Sis came over to visit, and later, Sis and I cut up veggies and fruits for a large chef's salad platter...lettuce, grape tomatoes, Vidalia onions, celery, carrots, apples, yellow and zucchini squashes, strawberries, walnuts, and Craisins. At the table, we added turkey, sliced cheese, and cottage cheese.

Since it was such a gorgeous day today...low temp with low humidity...we decided to go on an outing to a nearby town where there is a state park on the river. Only thing was, the pest control guy was scheduled to be at our house sometime between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. So Hubbie called the service and re-scheduled the treatment for next Tuesday.

Before lunch, Mother scrubbed baking potatoes and put them in the oven to cook before we left for the outing. We planned to have these with hamburgers and salad leftover from lunch. While the potatoes were baking, Hubbie cut up watermelon and put it in an ice cream bucket, and Mother and I gathered Styrofoam plates, forks, napkins, etc., to take with us for a mid-afternoon refreshment at the park.

When the potatoes were done, we headed out to the park, which is less than 30 minutes from our house. We had hoped that summer wildflowers would be in bloom, but the field where they usually grow is grown over with Johnson grass. A park attendant said that the rainy May weather made it impossible to mow the field to allow the flowers to come up.

We enjoyed the afternoon, anyway, strolling and snapping pictures along the brick paths near the historic courthouse, and photographing the old sternwheel paddleboat, permanently moored on an inlet of the river. It was another opportunity for Mother to ride in the transport chair, so she didn't have to walk on the uneven brick paths.

Following our tour, we found a picnic bench overlooking the river, where we enjoyed the watermelon, which, as it happens was grown in the town where the park is. We laughed about buying a watermelon in our town that was grown in the town we were visiting, and then bringing it back to that town eat.

Shih Tzu went along on this trip, and while we ate the watermelon, she enjoyed lying in the grass, with her face pointing into the pleasant breeze.

We were back home around 4 p.m. and put the baked potatoes back into the oven to heat, along with pre-cooked hamburgers (we had grilled them a few weeks ago for a camping trip, but didn't need them, so we put them in the freezer for a time when we wanted a quick meal. Today was that time).

After supper, Sis packed up for her trip home a couple of hours from here. We hated to see her go, but she plans to come back next month around the same dates for another four-day visit. We'll be back from our Michigan trip by that time.